Fig. 2.

DSB repair throughout the cell cycle. NHEJ is active in all phases of the cell cycle. In contrast, the HR pathway, which requires the presence of a homologous template for strand synthesis, takes place in the late S/G2 phase. MMEJ repair is active from early S phase until mid‐late mitosis (anaphase). However, under normal conditions, its activity is delayed until mitotic onset due to inhibitory effect of BRCA2 and RAD52. SSA is active in both early mitosis and S/G2 phase. DSB, double‐strand break; NHEJ, non‐homologous end joining; HR, homologous recombination; MMEJ, microhomology‐mediated end joining; BRCA2, breast cancer gene 2; RAD52, radiation sensitive 52; SSA, single‐strand annealing. [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]